


rumor has it

by giuliamm



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Jon and the Starks Are Not Related, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-25
Updated: 2017-06-30
Packaged: 2018-11-18 21:24:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11299143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/giuliamm/pseuds/giuliamm
Summary: Sansa is receiving some strange phone calls and she doesn't know who could help her. Maybe her brother's best friend could be the help she needs.





	1. the voice

**Author's Note:**

> okay so this is something i started writing three years ago, and i was writing in my first languange, italian, so this is basically a translation of what i wrote then

That morning, Sansa didn't turn off her alarm right away to jump out of her bed and start a new day, instead, she laid there, on her bed, listening to the melody drumming in her ears. Actually, that sound was sweet, it kind of resembled birds chirping, like the ones she heard when she still lived in the country with her family. Now, in that house, only lived her parents and her little brothers, Bran and Rickon. Right after college, she was lucky enough to find a job, and her parents helped her find a flat where she could live, while her older brother Robb had already found his place, and her sister Arya was still attending college.

Finally, she turned off her alarm as she lazily got out of her bed to get ready for another day at her not-so-dear workplace. She wore a black pencil skirt with a white blouse, along with the jacket that went with the skirt, and her favourite heels. She didn't really need to look taller, her head was already a few inches above the majority of here colleagues', but the taller she was, the more confident she felt.

When she got to work, she immediately went to sit next to her friend, Margaery, so that they could chat for a while. The two of them were totally different one from the other, Sansa was the kind of girl to keep most of her thoughts to herself, while Margaery seemed to be talking and giving voice to everyone's thoughts, she just kept talking and talking, sometimes it felt like she could have kept going forever.

Right when their conversation was starting to get _hot,_ their chief entered the office. Daenerys, or – as she wanted to be called – Miss Targaryen wasn't exactly the scary-type, she was actually pretty nice when they were outside of the building, inside, however, she was as fierce as a dragon, and Gods help whoever dared to disappoint her! She cared for her job more than anything, and great part of her job depended on how good the people in her office were at _their_ jobs. Following Daenerys, there was Missandei, her pupil. No one dared to say a thing about her, she was always under Daenerys' protective wing. If only Miss Boss knew what the gossips were saying about her, she would have been able to get everyone but Missandei fired.

Finally, it was lunch break, and Sansa and Margaery were joined by Yara, another friend of theirs, who worked in another side of the building. They had been friends for years now, and Yara was, without a doubt, the strongest out of the trio, her tongue wasn't as sharp as Sansa's and Margaery's, but she always had her way scaring people away with a simple glare, sometimes the redhead got chills from her look.

“Was anyone called in Daenerys office today?” asked Yara, ready to start their usual one-hour gossiping.

“Luckily no one has lost their job as of now. But guess who got here with her!” Sansa smirked.

“Don't tell me. Was she with Missandei? Again?” Yara's eyes widened and she let out a small laugh. “I'm sure they're up to something,” Margaery gave a suggestive smirk to her friends, who bursted out laughing.

“If Daenerys knew what we're saying we would be _all_ fired, you know that, right?” a sudden guilt hit Sansa. “Maybe they're just neighbours, or they met in the parking lot,” she was making up excuses, but none of them made actual sense for the looks that the two exchanged. “okay, fine, they're fucking!” she finally admitted, making both her friends laugh at her attempt to find other plausible reasons, but she wasn't quite done talking yet.

“still, we should mind our own business.”

“Oh, come on, Sansa, it's just an innocent talk, it won't hurt anyone!” reassured Margaery.

Sadly, lunch break ended before they could realise it, and everyone went back to their desks, waiting for the day to finally be over.

The following hours were probably the longest Sansa had ever lived, boring and pretty much free of anything interesting, she was relieved when the clock finally ticked 5 p.m and she finally went back home, where she decided a hot bath was waiting for here.

She rested her head on the tub and closed her eyes, letting the hot water ease her sore muscles. Her phone was on a stool next to the bathtub, and it was playing some relaxing music that was slowly leading her to a relaxing nap, Gods know how much she needed that, but they decided she did not deserve that yet. Her phone started ringing. She snorted and for a moment she thought she could let her phone ring, but the ringtone was so annoying she had to take that call.

“Hello?” she asked, half asleep.

“ _Sansa Stark?_ ”

“Yes, it's me. Who's asking?”

“ _It doesn't matter.”_

“Believe me, it matters if you want to talk to me, otherwise our little chat is over.”

“ _So it's true, what they say about you.”_ now, she was curious.

“And what do they say about me?”

“ _That you get really irritated when your relax gets interrupted. Oh, about that. You've been inside that tub for an hour, it's time you get out of there.”_

“Okay, so, since I don't know your name yet, I guess we're done talking.” and she hung up.

What the fuck was that, she wondered, it was unsettling, to say the least. No, _creepy_ is the word she's looking for.

She immediately got out of the tub, rushing to close every window and curtain, someone was watching and just the thought was enough to send chills down her spine. Who could have that been? And what did they want from her? She thought that maybe that was a phone prank, but then again, how would have they known that she was taking a bath?

Her head was full of questions when crawled in her bed, surrounded by pillows – they made her feel safer.

The next day she called her office, she talked to Missandei and told her that she wasn't coming to work because she was “sick”, the girl on the phone didn't seem to mind and wished her a quick recovery. Her thoughts immediately went back to that voice that called her, but the more she thought about it, the more that sound seemed to disappear from her mind, and it started to sound like she was talking to herself the whole time.

She went to the bathroom and started looking out the window. Someone was watching her just the night before, and whoever that was, they must have seen her from the window. She looked at the buildings around hers, she knew everyone who lived around her. There were other young people like her, newly-wed couples, small, happy families.

Her head had been aching since the previous night, but the phone started ringing again. She took a deep breath, and answered the phone, “Hello?”

“ _Not working today, I see,”_ it was that voice again.

“I'll say it one more time: I'm not going to talk to you if you don't tell me who you are.”

“ _That's a pity. I wanted to tell you how pretty you look with a ponytail,”_ She felt another chill and started looking out the window again, trying to find whoever was talking to her. _“It's no use looking for me, you won't find me.”_

“I'm hanging up.” she said icily.

“ _See you soon.”_ And she did it, she hung up and she drew the curtains. It kept getting creepier and creepier, and she didn't know what to do. If she called Missandei to tell her why she was staying home she would have simply told her to talk to Daenerys, and she wouldn't have been really useful, she wouldn't have even cared, as long as the problem wouldn't have affected her work. If she talked to Margaery, she would have told her to tell Yara, and Yara would have probably killed a man if she asked.

Sansa started scrolling down her contact list, she needed to talk to someone, but no one was quite _the one._ Robb would have worried too much, just like her parents and her whole family.

 _No one seemed quite the one_.

Finally, a name popped up, _Jon Snow_. He was her brother's best friend back when they were all in high school, and they still saw each other during summers, he was part of the family, except he asked half the questions, and actually listened until the end of the story before he started storming out, going on about how he was going to punch someone in the face. There wasn't a face to punch, not yet.

She sighed, and pressed the “call” button.

“ _Sansa?_ ” Jon seemed surprised.

“Hey, Jon. Is it a bad moment?”

“ _No, not at all. What is it?”_

“I need help, and I didn't know who to call...”

“ _Hey. Is everything alright?”_ he was always so nice to her.

“Not really. I need you to come to my place, I'll tell you everything once you're here.”

Jon agreed to meet her at her place, though he didn't remember where she lived. He didn't remember, yet it took him less than it ever took Margaery to reach her flat.

She welcomed him with a warm smile that covered her uneasiness.

“Hey, I was worried, I came as soon as I could,” said Jon, kissing Sansa's hair, “and why is it so dark in here?” and he went for the curtains, trying to get some light inside, but Sansa grabbed his arm, stopping him.

“That's why I called you,” she explained.

“You called me because you don't want to open the curtains?” he giggled, but the redhead didn't do the same, only worsening Jon's worry.

“No, I called you because someone is... spying me. I guess. I don't know how to put it,” and she proceeded to explain why she called him, the two phone calls, and how creepy it felt to hear that voice, knowing that it could see her, while she couldn't.

As expected, Jon listened and didn't say a word until she was done explaining, he even guessed the reason why she had called him instead of Robb, or anyone else, though he didn't really understand.

“I'm so sorry, Sansa--” but he didn't get to finish his sentence because her phone started ringing again. She didn't want to take the call, but Jon wanted to hear that voice.

“Who is this?” she asked, putting the call on speaker.

“ _Not even all the help in the world could help you find me.”_

“Well, maybe my friend isn't here because of you.”

“ _If he isn't, maybe he isn't even your friend.”_ Jon had to bite his tongue to keep himself from stepping in to stand up for Sansa.

“You don't know anything about me and my friend.”

“ _You may be right, but I know you should lock the door and the windows.”_

“Wait, I forgot: we're done talking until you tell me who you are.” Sansa hung up, her hands were trembling, her whole body was, and her eyes were holding back the tears from the night before. Jon felt his heart stopping, in all those years he had never seen Sansa looking so scared, it was natural for him to hold the redhead in his arms, trying to give her some kind of comfort. She let him hold her, she needed that.

“Jon-” she called.

“Yes?”

“Could you stay here, please?” she was scared, she didn't want to be alone.

“Yes, of course I'll stay. I'm not leaving you alone with that creep spying on you.”

“Thank you, Jon.”

 


	2. sos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now, Sansa has finally found some help and now she can really work to find a solution. Will she be able to focus though?

They didn't sleep in the same bed, Sansa was well aware that it would have been weird for the two of them. Instead, they spent the night chatting, telling each other stories about when they were both younger, when they spent summers together and they would all play together, she, Jon, Robb, Arya, Bran, Rickon, and sometimes even Theon, Yara's brother, they realised none of them had seen the boy in a while and proceeded to remember how annoying, yet funny, he was. So, yes, the night went by with laughs and nostalgia-filled sighs, they missed how easy things were back then.

The next morning she quietly got out of her bed, careful not to wake Jon, who was sleeping on an armchair in her room – he had insisted he shouldn't have left her alone, not even in her room. She wore her slippers and went to the kitchen to make breakfast for both of them.

Jon woke up to the smell of coffee, a sore neck and the sight of Sansa's empty bed. It took him a while to realise that she was probably in another room, and not in the hands of a maniac, going through all of seven Hells.

He got up from the armchair to the realisation that it wasn't just his neck that was sore, it was his whole body, but he had to get over it, he was aching for a good cause, after all.

“Hey, I thought you'd been kidnapped,” said Jon as he entered the kitchen, where he saw what was probably the most spectacular image he had ever witnessed. It wasn't really majestic, but Sansa had always had that ethereal aura to her that made her look beautiful even with that messy hair and her wrinkled pyjama, while she was messily pouring coffee in two cups, one for her and one for him.

“What?” she asked, handing a cup to Jon as she put the biscuits on he middle of the table, where they could both reach them.

“You know, I woke up and you weren't there,” he mumbled, realising how stupid he must have sounded.

“Well, the least I could do to thank for staying was making breakfast, of course I had to wake up before you did” she giggled, causing Jon to do the same.

They spent a few minutes in silence, enjoying their breakfast, she was always silent in the morning, Jon knew that from the summers spent together, when she would glare at anyone who dared to talk to her before 10 a.m. It was quite funny to him, she was almost like a child, except she was an adult now, and had abandoned the majority of the traits that made her the _annoying and spoiled Miss Stark_ , that's what everyone used to call her. Now, looking at her, Jon didn't see an annoying, spoiled Miss Stark, he just saw Sansa Stark, she was still the same, yet she was someone else. He thought that might have been the effect adulthood had on her.

On the other hand, Sansa had noticed that she wasn't the only one that had changed from those summers. Jon had never been all smiles, from that point of view he had not changed, what had changed was his expression, he looked more like a man and less like a boy, always with that pout on his face. Oh, how many times had she told him that even though girls liked the mysterious type, they always preferred someone who could smile a little bit more. Back then, he shrugged and said something like “ _if I had more reasons to smile, I'd smile more”_ and that answer had always confused Sansa, she didn't know much about him, but how troubled could have he been at such a young age? Seventeen-year-old Sansa thought he was being over dramatic, but now she recognised he must have had his reasons, even if they were still hidden away from her.

Their mutual staring was interrupted, of course, by the phone ringing. She had almost forgot what the whole situation was about. She took the call and put it on speaker.

“You're not done yet?” she spitted.

“ _Turn off the speaker, I only want to talk to you.”_

“I'm going to tell him everything anyway, what's the difference?”

“ _The difference is that now I have to take care of your friend.”_

“If you just so much as try to touch my friend I swear I'm-”

“ _What, Sansa? You're going to do what? Oh, you're late for work.”_

“Holy--” she hung up and looked at Jon with sorry eyes. She had probably put him in danger, and now crazypants was going to after him too. “Jon... I'm so sorry... I'm going to find this guy. I won't let him get to you.” she said longing for Jon's hand to hold.

“You don't have to worry, sweetling. If he comes, he has no idea what awaits him,” he reassured her, tightening the grip on her fingers, of which she let go shortly after.

“Now I have to go get ready, or Daenerys will kill me, and she won't just do it on the phone,” at least she still had the strength to joke. She patted Jon's shoulder as she got up, “And maybe you should go to work, too,” she added.

“Actually, I got fired.”

“What? Why didn't you tell me?”

“Well, we had other bigger problems to talk about...” Sansa felt stupid, they spent all that time talking, and she didn't even ask anything about him, about his current situation. Then, he continued, “listen, there's no need to worry about my job, I'll find another one. I didn't even like it anyway,” but she knew he was lying. He was so excited when he had announced that he was finally getting that job he had dreamed about since they were all teenagers. Before they could continue their conversation, they heard a knock on the door. They looked at each other, as if they were having another conversation, a telepathic one, in which they were deciding what to do about whoever was knocking. Sansa gestured at Jon to stay behind her, just in case she would have needed his help. They were worrying for nothing, it was just Daario, another one of Daenerys' puppies.

“Miss Targaryen--”

“I know. What do you have for me?” Sansa asked, almost impatient to get rid of the unexpected guest, who seemed to be looking right behind her, where Jon stood. Daario smirked, and she got on the way, keeping the young man from getting weird ideas from the picture of the two of them, not that she cared, she had already made things worse by moving, she looked like she had something to hide.

“Maybe I should stop by in another moment.” Daario winked, causing Sansa to roll her eyes.

“No, just tell me what Daenerys needs from me and leave.”

“If you want me to go away you need to tell me something to tell Miss Targaryes about your absence.”

“Tell her I got the flu.” Sansa nodded, it sounded plausible.

“It's summer. And you look like you haven't slept in days. Is it because of that handsome young man?” now he was just making suppositions, causing her cheeks to turn to a light red. She must have looked guilty.

“Just tell her I got the flu, okay? I don't care wheather she believes it or not.” Daario didn't know Sansa quite that well, but he knew her well enough to know that that kind of answer was totally out of her character. Daario's usual smirk was replaced but a worried look, another one, as if she hadn't seen enough, including her own.

“Is everything okay?” he asked.

“Even if it wasn't, I don't think I would tell you.”

“Is it about anonymous calls?” he insisted.

“Is it you?!” for the first time in a really long while, she raised her voice, catching Jon's attention.

“What's going on here?” intervened her friend, with his eyes shifting from Daario's worried expression to Sansa's enraged one.

“There's a new case at work. It's just a group of boys that has fun calling girls to scare them. No one has officially taken the case yet, maybe you want to have a look at it. And if it's not them that call you, at least you can distract yourself,” he explained.

“I'm coming to the office, we're going together.” Sansa said. Stepping away from the door so that she could let Daario step in. She also told Jon to just stay there while she went to get ready.

As she was getting dressed, Jon entered the room, running into an half-naked redhead fighting against the zipper of her dress. He let out a giggle and offered to help her, she agreed.

“Are you sure?” he asked.

“I am. I need to stop them, it's my job,” she said, turning so that she could face Jon, placing her hands on his shoulders.

“Just... be careful, okay?” Jon raised both his eyebrows in worry. Sansa smiled and patted his shoulders, leaving Jon so that she could go to the bathroom and wear some make up to cover her dark circles.

“Hey! Who do you think you're talking to? I'm always careful, Jon.” she really looked calm, he could have fallen for it.

They both left her room and got to Daario, who was waiting for them on a chair in the kitchen, where they were happily having breakfast just a few minutes before. She gave the table a longing look, wishing that the phone had never rang, and Daario never knocked.

Jon decided he was going to stay in her flat, so that he could keep an eye around and make sure no one crept around. Now Sansa owed him more than just a breakfast. She thanked him with a kiss on the cheek before she left, following Daario.

_Good morning, detective_ , everyone was greeting her as if she had been missing for weeks. Even Margaery seemed overly excited to see her friend again. Sansa gave her friend an update about her recent 'adventures', and told her that she was going to take on a new case about a gang, and Margaery agreed to work with her.

Daario led the girls to the file, and together they snuck in an office that was still vacant. There was nothing in there, just a desk and an empy bookshelf.

Sansa used her hand to clean the desk from the dust so that she could sit on it, with the file resting on her laps, Daario and Margaery took the seats on the chairs in the room, and they were ready to discuss the case.

The boys' identities were still unknown, but it wouldn't have taken long to find them out, somehow. They had to find out, and they had to find out if it was them calling her, it was really Sansa pushing for them to really work hard on that case, in other circumstances, a gang case would have been totally ignored, there were other priorities in the district.

The only way to find out for sure, was to start working undercover. Margaery already had some experience, she was surely going, same went for Daario. Sansa would have wanted to just sit by and follow the investigation from the office, but she needed everything to be perfect, she had to be part of it, so they decided that Sansa and Margaery would have gone undercover, while Daario was supposed to follow them from the outside.

Daenerys was informed of their plan, and she let them handle the case however they preferred, as long as they would have gotten some satisfying results, of course.

Their mission would have started that same night, in a bar in which the gang had supposedly put its control.

Of course, when the two girls entered the bar, everyone had their eyes on them, not just because of their looks – they were _flawless_ , according to what Daario said before dropping them off – but because no one knew them, they had to make some friends.

They went for the counter, starting to look through the crowd for some leads as to _who_ was in charge there. Sansa's eyes then met someone's. _Oh Gods_ , she thought, _that can't be him_. She hoped she had seen a ghost, it was too weird to be real, yet there he was.

“Hey, Sans. I didn't know you were... this kind of girl. Does Robb know what her little sister does in her free time?”

“Theon.” she sighed, whatever cover she had, it was blown up by him, but she was going to drag him down with her, “Does Yara know you're here? Should I call her?”

“We haven't talked in a while, she wouldn't care.”

“Trust me, she would.”

“Who's your friend?” he asked, smirking at Margaery, who looked away as soon as her eyes met Theon's.

“I guess she'll tell you if she wants to,” she let out a small giggle. “Are you here with someone?”

“Are you hitting on me?”

“Oh, please.”

“Come, I'll introduce you to my friends,” he offered, and that wasn't exactly the reason why she was at the bar, but she had to start blending in from somewhere.

She followed Theon through the crowd while holding on to Margaery's hand, so that they wouldn't have been separated by all those people. The three of them stopped in front of a table. _That's a V.I.P thing, right?_ She thought to herself, it must've been, otherwise why would everyone be on their feet and only a few people sitting comfortably?

At the table sat a girl, about her age with long brown locks and big eyes, she kind of looked like a baby deer, she noted to herself. On her side there was a young man, dark hair and eyes of the same colour as ice, even more than hers. No one said anything, until Theon realised that _he_ had to introduce everyone to each other.

“Ramsay, Myranda, this is my friend Sansa, and she's her friend...” he stopped, he didn't know her name.

“Margaery.” she always liked to introduce herself on her own.

“Sansa, Margaery, these are my friends, Ramsay and Myranda.”

They all greeted each other with small talks and a few smiles, managing to chat for a little while, until the two girls were excused, and finally left the bar, another minute in there and Sansa's head would have exploded.

“She's a fine woman, your friend,” Ramsay told his friend, as soon as the two girls left their table, “thank you for introducing her to me.”

It was past 2 a.m when Daario finally dropped Sansa off at her house, wishing her a goodnight as he left to give Margaery a ride.

The redhead would have really loved to enjoy a hot bath, but it was late, and she needed to sleep. Instead, she opted for a shower, after which, she decided to check on Jon. She hadn't seen him, she had supposed he had gone to sleep, but there were things she hadn't noticed, like the chaos all over the place. _He's almost thirty and he can't even tidy up a room,_ she whined in her mind, picking up things from the ground. Was Jon really like a child that liked to play with his toys, just to leave them scattered all over the place?

“Jon?” she called, but without an answer. “Jon?” she called again, this time a little louder. Still no answer. Maybe he was sleeping. She checked the bedroom, but he wasn't there either. Worried, she started looking in every room, but she couldn't find him, he was nowhere to be seen. He wasn't there, but if he had left, he would have told her, right? She checked her phone, even her emails, but there was nothing. Something was wrong. She dialled his number, out of service. Then, something came to her mind.

_I have to take care of your friend._

It was just that morning, the voice said that he was going to take care of Jon, and now Jon wasn't in her house, and his phone was out of service. The voice had taken him.

On the verge of tears, Sansa sent a text message to Margaery and Daario, there was nothing written there, just an “ _S.O.S”_ along with her address.

Jon was missing.

 


	3. not so fast, little bird

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jon's disappearance is starting to become a challenging, frightening game to Sansa, whose inner circle is starting to get bigger.

When they got Sansa's message, Daario and Margaery were still on their way. They read it at the same time, and then they exchanged a look before going back to Sansa's,

“What do you think happened?” Daario asked.

“I really have no idea,” Margaery answered, the fact that they didn't know what was going on was probably the reason why Daario was going over the speed limit, rushing to check what happened. When the pair got to the apartment, they were facing the most strange sight. The flat was in complete chaos, it was even messier than Sansa thought when she turned on the lights to see a shattered glass next to a puddle of... tea? Juice? She didn't know, she was just thankful it didn't look like blood, that wasn't blood, she was sure.

“Sansa... what happened?” Margaery was the first to speak, Daario didn't dare to.

“All I know is that Jon is missing.”

“Do you think it's because of the phone calls?” Daario intervened.

“I don't _think_ it's because of that creep, I _know_ it's his fault,” she hissed, and no one dared to speak again. There was a moment of silence, Sansa's eyes were wandering around the room, trying to picture what happened right there while she was away. Then, she spoke again, after taking a deep breath, “what do you think of the guys we met there?”

Margaery shrugged, “I'm not sure. The black haired guy...”

“Ramsay?” Sansa asked.

“Yeah, that one. He gave me the creeps. The girl was just... weird.” Sansa giggled and then nodded.

“I agree. I don't know if we're going the right direction. Theon knows me, he was friends with Robb _and_ he's Yara's brother.”

“So you think they have nothing to do with... this?” Daario gestured at the whole room.

“I don't know, really. We should investigate more, but Theon knows what I do for a living, and I'm sure he has already told his little friends, we're not going to get anything from them directly,” Sansa shook her head, letting out a sigh. She couldn't stop feeling guilty about what happened to Jon, it was her fault start to finish. She was the one who called him, and she was the one who left him alone. What would have happened if she had been there? Would it have been different? There was another moment of silence, then the redhead spoke again, “You should go now, we're working early tomorrow. You worked hard today, you deserve a good rest,” and that was her leader-speech, the best she could do in that situation, but nor Daario or Margaery seemed to mind, they just nodded and wished her a goodnight before leaving. And then Sansa was left alone to pick up the mess in the room, but only after taking a few pictures, you never know when you might need anything. She had to call Robb, she had to tell him everything, and he would have asked thousands of questions, she didn't know if she was ready yet. She decided to wait until the next morning to talk to him, she needed to sleep first, or at least she had to try.

As expected, she couldn't get any sleep. She spent the night rolling around in her bed, with guilt eating her from the inside. And then there was Theon, why was he even there? She hadn't heard from him in ages, and then he had appeared right in that bar. He always had a taste for trouble, he was the kid that always had bruises and a sharp tongue that didn't really get him anywhere except on the floor after one too many words towards the wrong person. Sometimes it was funny, but now she didn't know anymore. Something was off, judging by the dynamics between him and his so-called friends. And did Yara know anything about what her brother was up to? She had to talk to her too, and the more she started to make links, the more people seemed to come up. She was even wondering if she should have talked to Theon about Jon, they were friends after all. Right, and Robb too should have known about Theon.

She couldn't sleep, there was no way she could, at least she could have made that time productive. She got up from her bed and went to sit at the kitchen table with pen and paper in hand and a cup of hot tea, to keep her company.

She started making a list, a list of all the people she had to talk to. But in what order? _Wait,first I make the list, then I'll give it a sense,_ she thought to herself.

Then, her phone started ringing, it was almost 5 a.m, who could have that been? That voice, of course. She picked up, but she didn't say anything, she couldn't.

“ _Not sleeping, I see.”_

“Where is Jon?” her voice was cold as ice, but her clenched jaw betrayed her anger.

“ _Not so fast, little bird. First, we have to play.”_

“No, we're not going to play anything as long as I don't know if Jon is safe.”

“ _You must really care for this fellow.”_

“Just tell me where he is.” she was going to lose her patience.

“ _That's not how you play. But I understand,”_ there was a pause, no one spoke, but then she heard a thud on the other side of the phone, a heavy breathing and then, finally, a familiar voice, _“Sansa?”_

“Jon? Jon, Gods. Are you okay? Are you hurt? Where are you?”

“ _I'm okay, I'm not--”_ he was interrupted, of course. _“Too many questions, Sansa, we'll be playing again another time.”_ it was that voice again, this time he was the one to end the call, and she couldn't help but let a tear or two fall from her eyes, she needed to weep, let out some of all that stress.

After the call she couldn't even continue with her list, she left it there on the table, halfway done. She got up and went to get ready, she would have been the first to work.

She was sitting at her desk before 7, and couldn't go ahead with any of all the things she had piled up next to her computer. She sighed and looked at the clock. It was time to call her brother.

“Robb?”

“ _Hey, Sans. You're an early bird,aren't you?”_

“Were you sleeping? I'm so--”

“ _No, don't worry, I was about to get out. Did you need anything?”_

“I need to talk to you about something. It's about Jon.”

“ _Jon? I haven't seen him in months! How is he?”_

“Well,” she took a deep breath, “he's missing,” dead silence.

“ _Are you sure?”_

“I'll explain everything to you later. Can we meet today? After work?”

“ _Yeah, sure. I'll pick you up at 5.”_

One done, a thousand to go.

People started coming in, and even Daenerys was surprised to see that Sansa had already turned in some of the files she had on her desk until the day before, but she didn't ask any questions, she only had to gain from her work.

“Good job, Sansa,” was all she said with the slightest nod and the shadow of a smile.

Finally, it was lunch break, and she got to speak with Yara, who seemed really oblivious to her brother's recent activity, and had to be updated about _everything_ , she didn't even know about the phone calls. She even offered to join them, but Sansa couldn't accept her offer, not yet.

“Are you sure that was him?”  
“He tried to hit on Margaery, and thought I was hitting on him,”

“Sounds like him, right. Do you think he's involved?”

“I don't know. His friends were weird, but it's Theon. Do you think he could kidnap anyone?”

“He couldn't even keep a dead body in a coffin if asked to,” at that point, Margaery almost choked on her lunch, causing the other two to giggle, “besides, I don't think he could have handled a fight with your friend if he really had taken that kind of training...”

“But if it's not them, how do we find out what happened?” asked Margaery.

“The way we always do,” answered Sansa, “we have to check my apartment for clues. Last night I took some pics, I'll send them to you, then you and Daario can go and check, I'll leave you a spare key.”

“What about you?”

“I'm going to see my brother after work, and I wouldn't be very useful watching you guys look through all my things in my flat,” she shrugged. She would have been really uncomfortable, and that wouldn't have helped anyone. _“No, don't look there!”, “oh, come on, there's nothing in the closet!”,_ no, that wouldn't have been helpful, and Margaery seemed to agree.

Finally, it was 5, and Sansa got out of her office as quickly as she could, before Daenerys got weird ideas about her sudden productivity. Robb's car was in the parking lot already waiting for her. She knocked on the window and got on the car, greeting her brother with an hug and a kiss on his cheek.

“Hey, big brother!”

“Sans, how are you? You look like you haven't slept in days...”

“It's not that far from reality,” she sighed, and then Robb started the car.

“Will you tell me what happened with Jon?” was that jealousy in his voice? He was always the protective big brother, he must've sounded weird to him that his little sister had called _his_ best friend for help.

The redhead told him everything, from the first call to the last one, the one she received that morning. That was the second death threat the voice received in the same day, the first one was from Yara, and both of them started their threats with a heartfelt _“that son of a-”._ It would have even been funny, had the circumstances been different.

They stopped at a bar and sat for a little while to continue their chat. She even talked to him about Theon and his friends, but Robb said that the last time he saw him was even before the last time he heard from Jon. They got in a huge fight and never talked again, that's what her brother told her, but he didn't seem very sorry.

“Listen, Robb... I go back to that bar, why don't you come with us?”

“And see Theon?”

“Yes, maybe you can solve.. whatever's the matter between the two of you.”

“It's not that easy.”

“You don't know.”

“Maybe I don't know, but maybe you could help me, maybe you could get your own idea and tell me if you think they have anything to do with all this... mess.”

“When are you going back there?” he asked.

“On Saturday, I think.”

“Will you be okay until then?”

“I'm fine. I just need to find Jon.”

“You'll find him.”

“ _We_ will find him.”

“Right,” she nodded.

Sadly, she couldn't stay with her brother much longer, and he took her back to her office, where she had left her car. They waved each other goodbye with the usual dramatic Stark look they exchanged when parting, their friends always mocked them for being so dramatic, but they couldn't help it.

When Sansa got home, there was no one there, Margaery had left her a note in which she said she had kept hidden all her embarrassing stuff from Daario, she chuckled after reading, sending her a text to thank her. But she couldn't hit the send button, her phone had started ringing, that had to be him.

“Where is Jon?”

“ _He's fine. But you keep adding people to the picture, what do I have to do with you, Sansa?”_

“You have to leave my friends and me alone. Why don't you just tell me what you want and show yourself?”

“ _I prefer to watch you from afar, for now.”_ how could he be so creepy?

“You're disgusting.”

“ _Jon said the same thing.”_ hearing his name from that voice was almost scary, she really had to find him.

“If you hurt him- you have no idea what's going to happen to you.”

“ _I'm sure it's nothing compared to what he has already threatened to do.”_

“I would gladly let him do it.”

“ _The game is over for today, sorry Sansa.”_ he hung up.

It didn't feel right. It was so wrong, and it kept getting worse each passing hour. There was something else she could do, she had to at least try and track every phone call, she would have taken care of that the next morning, now she needed a cold shower.

She had to save Jon.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you so much for your feedbacks, i'm really glad you're enjoying the story so far , _ ,


	4. your breath on my neck

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sansa's is tiptoeing her way to Jon, she's determined to find him, whatever it takes.

It had been a week, and Sansa's phone was now under control, so that, when needed, they could have at least tried to track the call. Much to her increasing worry, she never heard that voice in those days, which meant she had no news of Jon. On Saturday she went to the bar on her own, well, with Robb, but she didn't tell Margaery or Daario until the next day. The night was weird at first, Robb and Theon didn't dare to exchange a look, Ramsay's eyes where jumping between the two of them in a strange way, much like he was trying to figure out what was going on between them, as if he had known that they were friends. Theon probably told him, Sansa figured. Myranda didn't say much, aside from a few comments and glares towards Sansa every time she dared to speak to Ramsay. She almost looked like a snake ready to bite her at her first move.

“So, does anything interesting ever happen here?” that's how it started, with Sansa's question.

“Are you a woman of action, redhead?” Myranda asked.

“Now that Robb's here, there's not going to be much action,” Theon intervened, but Robb didn't answer he just clenched his jaw.

“Well, if anything interesting happened, I would know, my father is the owner of this place,” finally, a real answer came from Ramsay.

“Really?” Sansa was interested, that was just the link she was looking for.

“Yes, Ramsay's like an heir around here,” there was something weird in Myranda's voice, _if she had tentacles, she would have wrapped them around Ramsay_ , Sansa thought to herself.

“Anyway, there's not much going on here, sadly, I love a little action, too.” he snorted, then she had an idea.

“Listen, a friend of mine has recently lost his job, maybe he could have an interview here? He's very hard-working, and you look like you could use a couple more hands here.” and she gestured at the counter packed with people.

“I guess we could arrange the interview. Send your friend here on Monday, my father will see him.”  
“Thank you, Ramsay.”

“I do what I can to help, sweet Sansa.” and his smile got creepy. Robb must have noticed that because he moved, getting in the way between his sister and the boy, insisting that they were going to leave pretty soon. And so they did, Ramsay even gave his goodnight to Sansa with a kiss on her cheek, she could almost feel Myranda's eyes piercing through her flesh.

When they got in the car, Robb proceeded to whine about Theon not being collaborative in their reconciliation, and Ramsay giving him strange vibes.

“And who is supposed to be your friend, by the way?” Robb suddenly asked.

“Well, if Jon were here, it would be him. But he's not, so I'd go for Margaery's brother, Loras, or maybe Daario,” she hadn't really thought about that detail, she was just starting to realise that, “tomorrow I'll call the others and see if Daario would like to get this job.”

“What do you think is going to happen if he's hired?”  
“If they hire him, we will have some insight of the bar.”

“And what if they don't?”

“Then I'll have to flirt with Ramsay,” her stomach hurt at the thought, and so did Robb's, “if I were to talk to him, or even just look at him, I think Myranda might kill me with some lasers coming out of her eyes.”

“You noticed that?” Robb asked, chuckling.

“Oh, please. Thank the Gods there were no knives at the table. She hates me!” they both laughed, she really needed to distract herself, even if it was just for a few moments.

The next morning she called Margaery and Daario over, they had sent what they found in her apartment to the lab, the results were supposed to come out on Monday, everyone was impatient, and then the two guests were irritated.

“You went there _alone?_ ” they asked, practically at the same time.

“I wasn't _alone,_ Robb was with me!” she explained, and then continued, “Ramsay said that his father is the bar owner, did you know that?”

“Well, no...” Margaery answered.

“You're welcome, then. Also, I told him that a friend of mine was looking for a job, and could have had an interview to get a job there.”

“And who's your friend?” Daario asked.

“That's the point. It's either you, or, I was thinking,” and she looked at Margaery, “maybe Loras.”

“My brother?” Margaery looked confused, “he wouldn't even know what to do.”

“We don't need whoever goes there to do anything, we just need someone to gather information there, learn about habitués and so on, maybe we missed something.”

“I can do that, it's not that hard, right?” Daario offered.

“You would catch too much attention, look at yourself,” Margaery sighed, then continued, “I could ask Loras, if he refuses, then Daario can go.”

“Hey! Since when am I the last resort?” he faked shock, causing the girls to giggle.

Eventually, Loras turned down the offer because of schedule issues with his _actual_ job, and Daario went to the interview, ending up with a new job.

Halfway through the week, finally the results from the evidence found in Sansa's apartment came out. They found different samples of DNA, hers, Jon's and someone else's, that wasn't identified yet, all they knew is that it was a male's. At least they got that, it could have been the caller's DNA. It had to be, there weren't many people coming at her house, and if it was _his_ DNA, they just needed to find a match. It almost sounded easy at first, where would have they started?

The first few days without any calls were almost a pleasing break from all the stress, but for every moment of relief she felt from not hearing that voice, her worry for Jon kept growing. Was he okay? Was he hurt? It was a long week, and Daario didn't find out much. He met Ramsay's father and said that he was just as unsettling as his son, it must have been a family thing. He also met the supplier, but he didn't seem to be interesting to Daario, he said he only spoke metaphors and never said anything specifically, Daario didn't quite understand him, he limited himself to take the boxes and nod to his attempts at an up-in-the-air conversation.

Margaery and Sansa insisted with Daario that he should have spoke more with the supplier, he might have had some information that they could have used, and they really needed any information they could get to solve that puzzle.

Not knowing what was of Jon, Sansa couldn't fully concentrate on her job, Daenerys even asked her if she needed a few days off, but she refused, she needed to keep her thoughts busy so that she wouldn't think about what Jon was going through. Her ignorance, luckily, didn't last for long. Almost a week and half after the last call, her phone rang again when she was about to fill her stomach with some Chinese take away.

“ _Sansa, did you miss me?”_

“How is Jon?”

“ _He's fine.”_

“I want to hear it from him.”

“ _Fine, wait.”_

“If you hurt him in any way I swear you're going to regret that.”

“ _Sansa? Is that you?”_

“Jon? Jon, seven Hells. Are you okay?”

“ _I'm okay, Sans. And you?”_

“I'm not going to be okay until I find you, we almost did it, I'll see you soon, I promise.”

“ _Just... hurry, okay?”_

“We'll get you out of there, Jon.”

“ _And here ends your little chat with your friend. Are you satisfied?”_

“You still have him, of course I'm not.”

“ _You're getting closer, Sansa.”_

“Why don't you make it easier and tell me everything?”

“ _It would be no fun that way.”_

“Jon better be okay when I find him, do you understand?”

“ _Perfectly. Now I'll leave you to your dinner, until the next time, Sansa.”_

When the call ended, she had to fight back the tears, he was still watching her, and she couldn't be weak. She even lost her appetite to the sound of Jon's voice, she hoped he sounded that weak because of tiredness, she couldn't stand the thought of him getting hurt because of her.

She couldn't sleep, she could count her sleep hours over the last few days on her fingers. She couldn't stop thinking about him, she needed him back with her, she couldn't stand the thought of losing him, she was already losing her mind.

She decided to go by process of elimination, she needed to identify that DNA that was found in her apartment. She sent a text to Daario and asked him to collect DNA samples from every employee in the bar, he didn't ask questions, he went along with her request, almost as if he had understood what her intention was. It would have taken ages to analyse all those samples, but it would have worked, _right?_ She wanted to save Jon, and she would have done anything to do so.

The next morning, Margaery brought a pile of papers to her desk.

“What's all this?” Sansa asked, flipping through the papers.

“You got a call last night, didn't you?”

“Well, yes. I even heard Jon's voice.”

“We tracked that call.”

“Are you kidding me?” Sansa couldn't believe it, and took all the papers in her hands, scrolling through them, looking for the information she was looking for.

“No. But there _is_ something weird. The caller's address is...”

“My own.” Sansa concluded, with horror all over her face as she let the papers fall on her desk, “that freak is in my condo. He's been there all this time. He was watching me even last night, Gods.” she was in disbelief, how did she not realise? Margaery looked sorry, she even put a hand on her shoulder.

“We'll send a team to go door-to-door until we find him, and we'll find Jon.” she reassured Sansa.

“Call Daario, ask him if he's done what I asked.”

“What did you ask?”

“I asked if he could collect DNA samples from all the bar employees.”

“And... why?”

“Well, if the guy works at the bar, we'll find him that way.”

“It would take _ages._ ”

“I know, but it's better than nothing...”

“I guess so.”

Daario said he had collected the majority of the employees, that would have been enough for the time being, they could have sent those samples to the lab for confrontation, it was a good place to start.

In about three days, they had the results, no matches, Sansa was feeling hopeless.

“Are you sure that's everyone?”

“That's every employee.”

“Even the owner? And the janitors?”

“Even them, so even if it was that guy that Margaery thought was creepy, it would have come out as a partial match.” scratch on Ramsay, it wasn't him, or his father.

“Are the suppliers included?” Margaery asked out of nowhere.

“Well, no...”

“Then it's not all the employees,” Margaery sighed, “go and get those. When's delivery day?”

“What's the day today?” he asked.

“Thursday.” Sansa answered.

“... Shit.” Daario hissed.

“Go!” Margaery ordered.

“So when is the team going to go door-to-door in my condo?” Sansa asked, once Daario left in a hurry.

“Tomorrow, try not to mention it when you talk to yourself,” Margaery joked, and the redhead shook her head.

That night, she received another call.

“ _You're getting closer, Sansa, I can feel it.”_

“You have no idea how close I am.”

“ _Oh, I know, I can almost feel your breath on my neck.”_

“Is Jon okay?”

“ _You always talk about him, don't you?”_

“Let me talk to him.”

“ _You're going to talk to him soon enough, in person.”_

“I'll also have the chance to punch you in the face.”

“ _I've been threatened of worse. But playtime is over, I'll see you soon, little bird.”_

She was so close to finding him that she could almost feel her knuckles hitting his face, and her hands cupping Jon's face to reassure him that he was okay, that he was finally safe.

She joined her hands in front of her face and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath as she lost herself in that image that her fantasy had created.

_I'll save you, Jon._

 

 

 


	5. you are a whole garden

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sansa finds her dream and her nightmare to be in the same place where she thought she had her peace.

The next morning, she didn't even bother to go to work, she waited for Margaery and Daario to get there at the front door of the condo. They didn't take long.

The team in charge of the operation was led by a strong, tall man, with ginger hair just like hers, except he had a beard.

“Name's Tormund Giantsbane, nice to meet you, Miss Stark,” he introduced himself.

“I'm glad you're here, Mr Tormund,” she answered.

“You can call me Tormund, Miss,” he said jokingly.

“Then you can call me Sansa, to be fair,” she said. Before handing the man the condo's blueprint, floor by floor, so that he could have studied a way to control every level without alarming anyone.

He decided to send a few men on every floor, and they would have all started looking at the same time, even Sansa, Margaery and Daario were going to participate, in different floors.

Sansa was assigned to her own floor, Margaery and Daario to thee lower ones. Once they were all set, Tormund spoke to his radio, signalling everyone to start moving. At every door there were at least two men knocking, waiting for an answer. The doors opened, questions were asked and answers were given, more or less sketchy, depending on the individual who was asked, of course they couldn't expect everyone to be crystal clear. There were only four doors that didn't open, those surrounding Sansa's flat.

“As far as I know, they're vacant.” she explained.

“Sounds a bit strange to me,” Tormund shrugged.

“I had the same thought,” Daario agreed.

“So, what are we going to do?” Margaery asked.

“I'll call the owner, he'll give me the keys.” Sansa took her phone from her pocket, starting dialling as she moved away from the group. The chat took quite a while, the owner wasn't sure about giving away the keys, but Sansa reassured him that his property wasn't going to be damaged, _it's not like we're savages_ , she thought to herself as the man finally agreed, telling her that he was going to hand her the keys himself, so they had to wait for him.

In the mean time, she texted Robb, telling him about her progress with the investigation, he said he would have went there to help, hadn't he been so busy with his job.

The owner took an hour to hand them the keys, and he was still going on about how important it was for them not to damage the property in any way. _Gods, we got it, just give us the keys!_ She was practically begging him with her look.

To look through the other flats, they used the same strategy, different men for the different floors. Sansa, Margaery and Daario all on the three floors with a bunch of men each.

The apartments were not as empty as Sansa had thought, they were furnished, though it was very essential. Sansa and Tormund looked thoroughly the flat above hers, checking every corner for a lead.

“There's nothing here,” Sansa said, hopeless. Tormund didn't answer right away. He kept looking, then he sighed.

“How many carpets do you have?” he asked then, “I mean, I'm not a fan myself, and I don't know how many carpets would be appropriate, but, man, there are least two carpets in every room here,”

“Do you have a point or are you just judging the designer?” she chuckled.

“Well, let's say I hate carpets and I want to remove all of these. Will you help me?” Sansa looked confused, but decided to help him anyway. They reached for a carpet in the living room and rolled it up.

“Oh, Gods...” Sansa whispered in horror, as the floor was revealed. All across the parquet were carved small holes, the size of an eye. She knelt on the floor and got close to one of the holes with her eye, she could see her own apartment, that's how he knew what she was doing _all_ the time. She looked up again, Tormund was looking at her, just as horrified as she was in front of such a creepy discovery.

They proceeded to move all the carpets, only to reveal more and more holes, to the point that she almost couldn't look at them any longer.

They were in the bedroom, trying to move the bed, when the closet doors started to open slowly.

“What the...” Tormund hissed, moving his hand to the holster.

“This doesn't make any sense!” it was Margaery's voice, and it was coming out of the closet, and it was actually her behind the doors.

“Marg, what in Seven Hells are you doing?” Sansa asked.

“You're not going to believe this. All these flats are communicating,” Sansa couldn't process that information.

“Let me see,” she approached the closet and noticed a false bottom that led to a flight of stairs, it was true, what Margaery said. She got out of the closet and asked about what they had found, and they didn't find anything different form what she did, each flat had strategical holes that spied on her own. That was how he kept his eyes on her, but where was he? And, more importantly,

“Where is Jon?” she asked.

“We're going to check again, now that we know that they're all communicating, who knows how many secrets are hidden here,” Margaery sighed, and Sansa agreed.

While everyone decided to double check the flats, Sansa went to the hidden stairs, looking for more clues as she put a foot in front of the other. Then, her phone rang.

“ _I can almost hear your footsteps, Sansa.”_

“Make it easier for the both of us and tell me exactly where you are,” she couldn't see a damn thing, it was too dark, only a few gleams of light were leading her.

“ _Oh, but you're so close. And you already know where I am.”_

“What about Jon? Where is he?”

“ _He's with me,”_ a pause, _“and he's fine, yes.”_

“Good.”

“ _See? I know you, Sansa. I know what you need to hear.”_

“I don't just need to hear that, when I find you he'd better be fine, or else...”

“ _Or else what? Tell me, I'm bloody curious.”_ her phone buzzed, it was a text from Daario, she read it quickly,

_THE DNA RESULTS CAME IN, IT'S THE DELIVERY GUY FROM THE BAR._

She bit her lower lip, _The name, Daario, I need the name!_

“Trust me, you don't want to know.”

“ _But I do, Sansa.”_ the she heard something, an echo.

The stairs went lower than the floor below hers, and it was weird enough. But hearing an echo? She got closer to the gleam of light closest to her.

“You do?” she asked as she typed a text to Margaery, it was the floor number she was in, in case things got dangerous. Sansa then held the phone between her head and her shoulder as she used her hands to move the false bottom in front of her, only to find herself in a closet. _A man closet_ , she thought as she gave a closer look the clothes. _Late thirties, early forties_ , she noted to herself.

She hadn't opened the closet yet, she wasn't ready to burst into someone's house like that, she had a lot to find out just from the closet, but the lodger wasn't probably agreeing with her. The doors started to open, and Sansa couldn't do anything but hold her breath as she faced a man, about the age she guessed, with grizzled hair and a weird, thin moustache. The redhead's eyes widened as she tried to reach for her wallet to show her badge, but the stopped her before she could.

“Hello, Sansa,” she would have recognised that voice among millions.

“You,” she hissed and she tried to reach his face with her fist, but she wasn't very subtle about her intentions, and the man was able to dodge her. “Where is Jon?” she was enraged, but the man looked so calm, it was unnerving. He tried to put his hand on her shoulder, but she moved away, and he didn't seem to insist. Instead, he lead her to the living room, where Jon was tied with his arms and legs to an armchair. She rushed to him and cupped his face with her hands.

“Jon! Gods, Jon, I'm here. I found you.” she whispered to him, as she caressed his hair. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”

“I'm fine, Sansa, really,” he answered, as she reached out to his wrists, trying to free them from the ropes that kept him still, but the strange man stopped her.

“Not so fast, Sansa. I didn't get you here to just set him free and watch the two of you ride off into the sunset,” he said, probably thinking of himself as the smartest man in the whole world.

“Then, what do you want?” she asked, still trying to free her friend, who kept reassuring her that she was okay, though she couldn't even get over that he was _tied._

“I love you, Sansa.” he said.

“You don't know what you're talking about, I don't even know you, and you don't know _me._ ” she snapped, finally managing to untie one of the knots on Jon's wrist.

“You can call me Petyr. And I _do_ know you, Sansa. You're just like your mother.” Sansa's lips twisted with disgust at Petyr's words and she looked over to Jon, who had her same look.

“And what would you know about my mother?”

“Catelyn. Catelyn Tully was the most beautiful of all the flowers, the most gorgeous of all the women. But you, you, Sansa, you look even better that Catelyn. You aren't just a flower, you're a whole garden, my love.” Sansa couldn't get herself to speak, that man had a really disturbing effect on her. She was still looking at the man, with her lips parted. Thankfully, Jon intervened to help her.

“You're just giving her the creeps. Can't you see that? Let us go, we'll forget about this.”

“You see, Jon, I'm not going to give Sansa up like I did with Cat. When she got engaged to Ned, I just gave up my dream of a life with her,” then, he turned to Sansa, “I'm not going to make the same mistake with you.”

“You will have to.” Jon answered icily, as Sansa started working on the knot on his left wrist, fighting against the revolting thought of Petyr, of all the things he did, the way he kept watching her, he even kidnapped her friend.

“You know, it's funny. You talk about not making mistakes, yet you already made so many before I even knew your name,” Sansa snapped, shaking her head as she finally untied Jon's wirst, and he proceeded to free his ankles, “You stalked me, you crept the hell out of me with anonymous calls and then you kidnapped Jon. That's wrong on _so_ many levels.”

“But I did it for love, my dear, for you.”

“And that's probably the worst thing about this situation. You have no idea what you're talking about. You loved my mother, and I am not my mum.” she had already started to raise her voice.

“That's exactly the point. You're not your mother, you're better than her, Sansa.” as he said so, he approached the redhead, putting his hands on her shoulders, getting closer and closer, until she couldn't back off any more. She had turned her face to the side, trying to fight with her hands to keep Petyr away from her, but her arms were not strong enough to fight against his. It was in that moment that she closed her eyes, preparing herself for the worst, but all she heard was a thud, and then something hitting the floor. She opened her eyes and Petyr was laying on the floor, and, in front of her, stood Jon, with a lamp in his hand. She didn't say anything. She simply leaped over Petyr's body and took the lamp from her friend, putting it on the coffee table before hugging Jon as tightly as she could. She snuggled her face between his jaw and his shoulders, finally letting out her tears, as he tightened his grip around her. He knew exactly what she needed, just like he always did. She didn't move from that hug for a few minutes, and Jon didn't let go of her until she did. Actually, she wouldn't have let go of that hug, if they hadn't been interrupted by the front door opening. It was Margaery. She came running to Sansa, wiping her tears away as she asked what happened. The redhead explained everything, then the two girls went to check on Petyr's body, he wasn't dead, just unconscious. They found his wallet with his documents. _Petyr Baelish_ , Sansa twisted her nose, she was going to remember that name for quite a long time. Daario made the arrest and he dragged Petyr out of the condo once he regained consciousness.

The trial for Petyr's crimes started a few weeks later, and during that time, Jon and Sansa kept seeing each other, getting closer and closer each passing day.

They were together when the trial started, they sat next to each other during every hearing, holding on to each other's hand before their testimonies. They were sitting next to each other even when the judgement was delivered, and Petyr Baelish was sentenced to life prison for stalking, attempted assault _and_ kidnapping. They hugged each other when he was found guilty of every accusation.

She apologised a million times for putting him in such a danger, and he apologised a million times for not knocking the man out the first time he saw him. None of them actually needed apologies from the other, they had already forgiven each other. They realised with time that all they needed was just to be together.

“And I had to be kidnapped by a psycho for you to understand that!” he liked to joke.

“If it hadn't been for him, I wouldn't have even called you. It's pretty ironic, isn't it? He wanted me, but he pushed me towards you.” she chuckled, now Jon seemed to smile more often. He did so about every time they kissed, every time he looked at her. He had started to see her as something utterly necessary, and she had started to feel like a sunflower around him, needing her Sun to feel whole. Sansa Stark felt whole like she never did before with Jon Snow, and Jon Snow felt whole like he never did before with Sansa Stark.

They had found each other, and they feared that, once the trial was over, they would have gone back to sporadically chat every once in a while, reminiscing about the old times, when they spent their summers together in her family's summer home, but they didn't get away, they grew even closer once their shared nightmare was finally over. And their kids, oh, their kids loved to hear about how mama and papa got together to become the couple that they admired so much, little Lyanna and Rhaegar were so proud of their parents, just as much as Sansa and Jon were proud of them.

He really had to be kidnapped for them both to realise that they had been in love with each other the _whole_ time.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO yes, it's over. i did it. honestly, the original fic i wrote years ago had a different ending (it had different characters, it had to be adapted) but honestly this ending is far better, believe me lmao  
> i might be back with something new very soon, i really love these two, maybe some canon era jonsa?   
> anyway, thank you SO much for following this fic, and i'm sorry if i haven't answered your comments but i'm an awkward potato and i didn't know what to say aside from infinite thanks without giving away too much of the story...  
> still, i am so very thankful to each one of you , _ ,

**Author's Note:**

> please, tell me if there are any mistakes, i'm writing in english also because it's a great exercise, so that i can get better, so go ahead and correct me if it's needed , _ ,


End file.
